A current Ryanair pilot has slammed the company in an extraordinary open letter to CEO Michael O'Leary where she accuses the airline of refusing to listen to its staff.

Captain Imelda Comer is the first pilot to use her name when criticising the airline and penned the letter which she delivered to their headquarters in Dublin.

She has accused the firm - which has cancelled flights affecting 715,000 customers - of not listening to the pilots' voice.

Captain Comer said their way of interacting with staff members is 'not in line with the normal practices of any of the companies to which our colleagues have gone in increasing number'.

The firm's crisis started after a miscalculation of pilots' holiday dates and the news sparked outrage and a wave of negative media coverage across Europe.

Captain Comer also said the company has 'missed the point of what pilots require' if they are to help resolve the airline's difficulties.

She started the letter 'Dear Michael' and wrote: 'The old model has brought us to the current difficulties.

'Repeating the mistakes of the past will not help anyone to move beyond or resolve these difficulties to find future solutions.

'I have been requested by my colleagues, both inside and outside our interim EERC group, to communicate this message to you, and to offer earliest negotiations in which pilots and their advisors can sit as equals at the table, to find the best solutions to enable all of us to look forward to a brighter future.'

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It comes as the firm confirmed it will not be meeting with the new interim representative group for Ryanair pilots, which is known as the European Employee Representative Committee (EERC).

Captain Comer said Ryanair has ignored EERC communications in the past or argued that they were not from legitimate pilot representatives, reports RTE.

But she revealed that the group was made up exclusively or Ryanair pilots from 'several countries'.

In her letter, she also listed seven points the pilots are demanding, which includes new 'properly negotiated' contracts by next year.

She added: 'Pilots want Ryanair to succeed and thrive. They want to minimise cancellations and will support as much as possible every effort to achieve this stability.

'Pilots will surrender some of their leave to help resolve the current problems, but only in the context of the changes outlined above.'

Her letter went on: 'Your insistence on only negotiating with pilots, and only dealing with individual bases, is clearly not in the interests of pilots.

'Your continued insistence on both approaches move everyone further away from a sustainable solution.

She has accused the airline of not listening to its staff and said 'repeating the mistakes of the past will not help anyone'

'It may deliver you a short term fix in a handful of bases, but it will not resolve the deep seated issues that have been imposed on pilots over the last ten years, and have cumulatively given rise to our most recent difficulties.

'To date, the company has refused to acknowledge the right of the pilots to engage as a collective group.

'The company insists that you will only engage one base at a time. I respectfully suggest that this approach has failed the company, as evidenced by the shortage of pilots that has led to the cancellations crisis.

'It has also failed the pilots, as evidenced by the departure of so many colleagues and the short average length of pilots serving in Ryanair, as reported in Ryanair's annual reports.'

Ryanair has said reports it had a pilot shortage were false and that less than 260 of its 4,200 pilots had left so far this year amid some being poached by rival Norwegian Air Shuttle.

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'This letter from the so-called "EERC" is entirely disingenuous and is signed by a contractor pilot who has already resigned and is leaving Ryanair on October 31 as she confirmed she is moving to Asia.

'We will not be corresponding with, or replying to, the false claims made by this so-called "EERC"/RPG/REPA or any other front set up by competitor pilot unions.

'If Ryanair pilots wish to negotiate pay increases of up to €22,000 p.a. or anything else with the airline, they are free to do so at all times through the existing base ERC structures, which have been validated by by the Supreme Court of Ireland and have operated successfully for over 25 years without any invented claims about pilot "security".

'Ryanair wishes Ms Comer every success with her planned move to Asia.'